Tastes of Sea Salt
by WaywardWayfinder
Summary: The new girl has stolen Roxas' attention-and his heart-and are holding them hostage. The problem is, Roxas has only admired her from afar for the past month! So how is he supposed to tell Naminé how he feels if he's never talked to her in his life? And what happens when he's not only forcibly dragged into a close situation with her, but when her past causes it to get dangerous?
1. The New Girl

**_Tastes of Sea Salt_**

**_Disclaimer: As much as I would love to, I do not own Kingdom Hearts. Disney and Square Enix and all of those guys do, though. I hear they're pretty decent people. :)_**

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Chapter 1-The New Girl

The blonde boy took a good, long look at the fragile-looking form sitting one row in front of him. Curious, he leaned his elbow on the wood of the desk and rested his chin in his hand. As the sky slowly turned from the rainy grey of the early morning to a soft azure blue, the words in the background all started to flow together and became just another noise to ignore. He watched the girl with focused eyes, as the newborn sunlight peeked from the clouds through the window and caught her platinum blonde hair. The sight was nothing short of mesmerizing.

_I wonder what she's drawing..._

He recognized the cute way she huddled over the desk, as was her custom, when she was sketching. He'd seen her drawings before, but only on occasion, when the wind hit just right and they blew off of her desk to the floor. As she would bend to pick them up, the boy could often get an over-the-desk glimpse of them, each time his eyebrows rising in amazement with what talent for art she had.

Not that the fact surprised him all that much, of course. He'd known she was special ever since she had unknowingly walked straight into his life a month ago when she had first moved to his hometown, Twilight Town, sketchbook in hand and mystery trailing behind her, enticing his curiosity to follow after her like a puppy. He didn't know what, but there was just something _about_ her...

He wondered if the wind would do him a favor today; if he'd get to see what the girl had been so feverishly scribbling at since earlier that morning. He never got to see her face anymore, so he figured that her drawings were obviously the next best thing.

The boy turned his head to the window quickly, to see whether it was open or not. The teacher usually left it open to air the stuffy room out, but as he had recently come to find out, nothing was set in stone. To his reassurance, however, through his electric blue eyes of concentration he noticed a crack between the window frame and the glass so small he would've missed it if he hadn't been looking hard enough. He grinned to himself in amusement.

_Now if a breeze could just blast through or something..._

He sighed and crossed his arms over the desk, turning his attention back to the blonde girl. He noted the way she sat, her blue plaid uniform skirt tucked smoothly and neatly under her and her posture perfect; the way she kept pushing the left half of her hair back over her shoulder to hang down her back while the right half swept loosely over her other shoulder to the front; the way she changed her mind so often on how most comfortably to position her legs-first crossed, then together, then with her feet hiding under her chair, then crossed again. Over the weeks, he had begun to find her small habits to be pretty amusing and sometimes fascinating. Maybe even a little bit cute.

Would he ever admit that to anyone? Not even if his life depended on it.

The school bell suddenly rang in his ears, bringing back the soft dullness of the teacher's sweet-voiced lecture coming to an abrupt end as it did most days.

"Now, class, please don't forget we're changing seats tomorrow!"

The boy let the words flow through one ear and right out the other as he quickly shoved his unorganized mess of notebooks into his schoolbag, got up and rushed out the door. Today, he decided, was the day he was finally going to catch her and tell her just how amazing he thought that her drawings were. Although it looked like she tried to hide it from people, he thought she still deserved to know that someone noticed her talent,, even if it came from some nobody guy that just sat behind her. Her art was an inspiration to him, and though she didn't know it yet he just knew that he had to tell her.

He stepped out into the hall, numerous teens his age walking out of various classrooms and beginning to flood the narrow hallway. His vision swept around for the blonde girl, her once visible form now lost in the vast sea of bodies moving carelessly in their respective directions. Once Roxas had lost her in this, he knew there was nothing he could do about it. He would know, he'd tried. Multiple times. He sighed in disappointment and slung his bag over his shoulder, moving dazedly toward the class five rooms back and leaning casually against the wall beside it to wait.

A few minutes passed and the hallway began to clear out as kids started to head home. Some left in groups, and others completely alone. He heard the click of a doorknob and turned as a guy with fiery red spiky hair wandered out of the classroom.

"Miss me, Roxxy?"

"I told you not to call me that, Axel." Roxas replied, rolling his blue eyes to the back of his head.

Axel chuckled lightly, elbowing his friend in the side and starting for the end of the hallway. Roxas followed at his side, forced to listen as his best friend launched into a story about how, earlier that day, his weird Chemistry teacher, Vexen, started creepily hitting on his lab partner-a pretty girl with short black hair.

"...and you shoulda seen the way he was staring at her. It was naaaaasty. You could tell he was trying to, like, undress her with his mind or something. He kept making these super gross awkward noises when she..."

Roxas began tuning Axel out just as he had done with his teacher in class. His mind wandered to the blonde girl, creating an image in his head of one of her drawings once again floating to the floor because of the wind. He imagined her slowly reaching down to get it, her hair swinging down gently as her small hands grabbed the corners of the paper to bring it back, and he smiled slightly to himself.

Part of him wished he'd had a clearer view of her face. He'd seen it once before and instantly thought it was the most beautiful thing he thought he'd ever seen. And, living in a place like Twilight Town, there were a LOT of beautiful things to see-from the stunning sunsets to the gorgeous sandy beaches lined with sparkling oceans. But the memory had recently started to fade away, the quickly passing days beginning to erase her features from his mind.

On the other hand, the other side was perfectly satisfied with things the way they were, and perfectly happy just being able to see her at all. He shouldn't complain-not when he got to see her just about every day. Sure, he wanted to see her face, but he also knew he was lucky enough already just to get to sit behind her.

Roxas' daydream was abruptly interrupted by a sharp twisting feeling in his forehead that turned out to only be his friend poking him. He snapped out of his daze and looked into Axel's suspicious face.

"You alright, man? You haven't been paying attention almost this whole time. You almost got hit just now, bro," he pointed out, indicating the passing car that had sped by behind them less than a second ago.

"Oh, uh...yeah, yeah I'm fine," the blonde distractedly answered.

The semi-annoyed stare and lone raised eyebrow that Axel gave him told Roxas that he didn't believe it for a second. They crossed another road and entered a small park, as they always did on their way home from school.

"You've been really spacey lately, man. You sure everything's alright?"

"Yup."

"Hmmm...," Axel continued, "I bet I know what your issue is."

The blonde raised his eyebrows and pulled out his wallet as they walked up to their favorite place, the large red ice cream shop that was nestled in the center of the park amidst huge and tall trees as far as the eye could see. "Yeah? What're you thinking, then? Two sea salt ones, please."

The silvery-haired teen at the counter pretended not to hear their conversation and handed the creamy blue ice cream sticks to Roxas, who handed one to Axel. Roxas payed up the five munny they owed, thanked the guy and walked away again.

"It's HER again, isn't it? That girl from your still haven't talked to her yet?"

The short-ish blonde boy sighed. Of _course _Axel would be able to guess what was bothering him. He had gotten really good at it over the years, especially when it came to Roxas. His best friend may have been nosy and pushy, but he knew that Axel would always give him good advice no matter what the situation was or how difficult said advice would be to follow through with. After all, Axel had helped him through a truly dark time of his life when he thought there was absolutely nobody else. If he couldn't rely on Axel, who else did he have?

When Roxas had first told him about the blonde girl, he had simply said:

_You should talk to her._

Well, yeah. Obviously that was the solution. Roxas could see that plain as day. The only problem was, it was about as easy for him to talk to someone like her as it was for someone to staple water to a tree. He would love to be able to take his friend's advice and talk to her, but he just couldn't. He wanted to, more than anything. He wanted to be able to see her face, to say hello to her in the mornings, to tell her that her drawings were as beautiful as she was, maybe even to someday be able to hold her hand and smile at her, if he could take it. But Roxas was terrified.

Besides, he was perfectly happy just watching her from afar, able to see the sunlight catch her hair and pretend that she could notice him someday without fear of being hurt or rejected by her. From far away, he could smell her sweet Paopu Fruit perfume and grin when she was concentrating on sketching without a care in the world and without worrying about anything else, even though he didn't even know her name.

Roxas sighed again. "Not yet. I want to, believe me, but I just...I don't know. How would I even...? What would I say?"

Axel hit his friend on the arm. "You'd say '_hello_,' idiot. Duh, what ELSE would you say?"

Roxas shrugged and licked his light blue ice cream, then bit a somewhat large piece off of the corner.

"Then you'd have to go with, 'your drawings are amazing. I know you try really hard to hide them and everything but since I sit behind you I creepily stalk you while you draw sometimes and you're really good." Axel continued.

The piece of sea salt ice cream suddenly became jammed in Roxas' throat, causing him to choke quite unceremoniously on it. Axel clapped his best friend in the back, laughing.

"Dude, I'm joking! No need to die on me! If you do I'll kill you, got it memorized?"

After regaining a bit of composure and the ability to swallow properly despite the splitting headache of the brain freeze that now plagued him, Roxas nodded.

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Hi everyone! This is Chapter 1 of my very first story, _Tastes of Sea Salt_! I hope you all like it! Reviews and advice and stuff of the like are greatly appreciated! ;w;

~WaywardWayfinder


	2. Seating Change

Chapter 2-Seating Change

As Roxas walked to school the following morning, he stared blindly at the road as it went on ahead of him. He processed what Axel had told him when he had finally finished choking on ice cream.

_...listen, Roxas. I love watching cute girls who don't even know I exist as much as the next guy. No, really. But in the long run, just watching from the sidelines doesn't contribute much to the overall win, does it? It may seem like laying low is the easiest thing to do, but trust me, if you like her this much NOW, imagine how hard it's gonna be in a month or two when she actually gets noticed by people. She may be a loner now, but in case you haven't noticed, she's pretty cute. Heck, guys from MY class have already begun to notice her, so obviously she's not gonna be flying under the radar for too much longer. How're you gonna feel when you're stuck "watching over her" and she's got a boyfriend, huh? How's it gonna be when she doesn't even know of your existence but she's got so many guys chasing after her that her entourage could form a club? You remember what happened with that Olette girl last year. She felt so claustrophobic she had to switch schools after someone stalked her._

He had a point. A really good point, too. Although it felt much safer to keep his distance, Roxas realized that the girl would indeed eventually attract a lot of attention. Obviously he couldn't be the only one who noticed how beautiful she was. It was just his choice whether he would do something about it now or have to suffer in silence later.

He sighed to himself and dug his hands deep into his pant pockets, feeling the unexpected weight of his bag as he made sure it didn't slip off his shoulder. He looked up and saw the huge school building getting closer and closer as he walked in the direction of the front doors, students filing in to start their day of sitting, and overall boredom. A small feeling of surprise came over Roxas as he hadn't thought he'd come this far in the short amount of time it seemed he'd been walking, but he shrugged it off and followed the crowd inside.

Axel met Roxas at the foot of the stairs in the far end of the school as he usually did. The narrow staircase was the only one in the school that led the way up to the roof and didn't just end there, forcing you to find another staircase. It had small platforms that broke off into the floors' respective hallways, but the stairs themselves just kept going up.

The platforms were so small and hidden from the hallways though, it would be easy to miss them and completely pass the stairway if you weren't intentionally looking for them. Because of this, it never really got noticed by other students and was often passed by without a second glance. That was just fine with Roxas though; he didn't want it crowded by people he didn't know who would more than likely just ruin them with graffiti and litter. It was a nice place just for him and Axel to hang out, besides the rooftop during lunchtime.

The boys said nothing as they climbed the stairs, both of them not only completely ready to go back to sleep, but more than willing to do so right there on the stairs if they so desired. Axel let out a loud yawn, giving Roxas a sudden urge to yawn as well. They reached the top in a matter of minutes and dragged themselves to their classrooms, waving a brief goodbye at the back entrance of Roxas' with a quick smirk from Axel telling him it was now or never. He rolled his eyes as his tall, slender friend meandered away.

Roxas stared at the door for a minute and thought about the girl, probably already sitting inside. She was always early, after all. Even though he wouldn't see her face, as usual, the thought of seeing her even that much made him a bit excited. He could feel his sleepiness start to slowly drain away and a small smile start to spread across his face. All the while his heart started to pound in his chest and work its way up to his throat, and his mind raced at a thousand miles per hour.

_How am I gonna talk to her? What am I supposed to do?_

He decided not to overthink things. They'd work out how they worked out. He opened the door slowly and noiselessly and slipped inside. He found the girl already in her chair with her sketchbook out, and he smiled. He knew it, she was always there before he was. Even from the first day she had been in the class, she was always there when he came in. A warm feeling spread through him when he thought about it, like maybe someday he could walk in and she'd turn around and say hello to him.

He took his seat behind her and watched the people pile in from the front entrance, happy he and Axel had found such a conventient alternative. Coming in from the front just looked dangerous, like if you made a wrong move you'd end up on the floor with footprints in your face and dirt or mud all over you, depending on how the weather was that day. No, thanks.

After everyone had found their chairs and were sitting near them (if not in them then ON them), the teacher walked in.

She was somewhat tall, with short blue hair and even bluer eyes. She was Roxas' favorite teacher, as she was a really sweet person and always cared about her students and helped them to succeed in any way she could. She also gave them snacks sometimes, so that was definitely a plus. She walked up to her chair and took off her jacket then moved to the blackboard, taking her signature blue chalk from the tray and writing something. When finished, she backed off so we could read it.

_Seating Change._

Roxas' eyes widened to the size of saucers and his breath hitched in his throat, a lump starting to form. Seating change? Since when was there supposed to be a seating change?

"Alright everyone! I don't care where you sit, it just can't be where you are right now." The teacher said as the students began rising from their seats, exchanging intense stares with their friends and probably strategically pinpointing the exact location they would sprint to in the next minute or so.

After a moment's tense hesitation where the air itself seemed to stop flowing for just a second, the room almost turned into a madhouse. Kids practically turned chairs over as they got out of them (or OFF of them) and started toward their buddies, eager to find a seat with them. The only person who didn't seem to care where they sat was the girl, who just silently picked up her stuff and gracefully stood, probably waiting for the crowd to die down a bit. Roxas waited as well, hoping against hope that there would be an empty seat behind her-and if not, as least near her. Her head swiveled in search of a place, finally stopping in the direction of an empty chair in the middle of the room.

She headed towards it and so did he, stopping in his tracks when he realized the seat behind it was taken already by a blonde girl who looked like she had a crazy electric temper and would rip him to shreds if he so much as looked at her. Instead he chose life and looked around awkwardly, not knowing what to do, and quickly noticed there was only one more empty place.

_Right next to the girl._

Clearing his throat softly, Roxas plopped himself down into the chair and dropped his bag to the floor, where it slid partway under his desk. He tried not to notice his cheeks growing warmer when he felt a pair of eyes on him. He turned his head to the left.

There, looking into his electric blue eyes with her clear crystal blue ones, was the girl, giving Roxas a curious look as she made a first impression. Her eyes lingered on him for a while, making his cheeks feel hotter and hotter. He noticed her soft-looking golden hair catch the sunlight as it fell over her right shoulder and he looked away, panicking that she might see his red face.

His conscience punched him in the gut over and over as he fought his desire to look at her again.

_No no no. I can't. If I look at her, she'll notice I'm blushing. That's not manly, not even a little bit._

_No, what's not manly is not facing her, whether I'm blushing or not._

Silently scolding his conscience for being so right all the time, he turned to look at the girl again. Surprise hit him when he saw that the girl was still staring at him. He stared at her cheek, afraid that if he looked into her eyes he might get lost in them. The girl suddenly gave him a small, soft smile, as if she was amused by him or something.

He didn't care if she thought he was a blushing idiot as his cheeks grew hotter than ever. Her smile was the most beautiful, stunning thing he'd ever seen in his life.

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Hiiii everyone! I hope you enjoyed the second chapter! :D  
Reviews, advice and stuff are appreciated a lot! :33 I look forward to sharing the next chapter with you all soon!

~WaywardWayfinder


	3. Inward Battle

Chapter 3-Inward Battle

Roxas spent the entire remainder of the class internally fighting to keep his composure. He desperately tried to pay attention to what the teacher was saying, but just sitting next to the girl made his heart pound and his concentration diminish exponentially. He could barely breathe, let alone focus. While his attention was partially in the front of the room, he couldn't help but notice the girl's crystal blue eyes turning to stare at him in sporadic intervals as if he was an entirely new creature she'd never seen before. Her constant staring made him feel self-conscious. Was there something on his face?

At one point Roxas tried looking back at her to catch her off guard; almost instantly, however, his already red cheeks went bright crimson and his thoughts all blurred together. He saw her gazing at him again with her soft, shy smile; the sunlight from the window lighting up her eyes. He gave her an awkward sort of grin in return- one he hadn't actually meant to be awkward at all- and he retreated back to staring intently at the teacher's notes on the blackboard.

Just then he realized he probably should've been copying them onto his own notes. He looked down to see how far he'd gotten, cringing slightly when his eyes met the blank white page. Oops.

The hour-long class slugged by ever so slowly, but Roxas didn't really mind-not in this case, at least. Jotting down the notes he missed, and then catching up on the new ones so fast his hand cramped up and felt like it would fall off at the wrist in a matter of seconds-he was perfectly fine with this. Scribbly, unreadable handwriting that could easily be confused for hieroglyphics was probably his best academic attribute, anyway. Although the girl's short stares made him feel flushed, shy, and awkward, he couldn't help enjoying the feeling more than just a little bit. So much so, after a while his pencil just kind of dropped and while he looked at the board, he had given up on his notes and his full attention was on the girl.

Three or so daydreams later, a loud SLAM! shocked him back to reality. The teacher stood in front of him, a large textbook back in her hands ready to be dropped again. She smirked and let it hit the desk with another SLAM!

"Oi. Pay attention, please. Okay? Save the daydreams for later." She softly scolded him, her blue eyes smiling with some sort of amusement as her face loomed in uncomfortably close to his- for a teacher anyway.

"Oh! Uh, y-yeah. Sorry. I will." Roxas answered, vaguely aware of the quiet giggles of the girl beside him. Slightly frustrated with not her but with himself, he sneaked a peek at her notes- surely she hadn't done much of anything either, she'd been staring at him for most of the class period.

Her paper was filled in margin to margin with notes all the way down to the bottom of the page, her neat penmanship copying the thoughts from the blackboard word for word down to the last punctuation mark. Utter surprise left the boy's mouth hanging open and his eyes wide as saucers.

_What?How in the-?_

The teacher finally wandered back to her desk just in time for the bell to ring. From behind the stack of papers she had just picked up she said, raising her voice above the noise of people packing up their belongings,

"Have a good afternoon, everybody. See you for your last class of the day. Don't do anything stupid and hurt yourselves, okay? Thanks."

Roxas absentmindedly nodded at the instructor's typical goodbye message. His eyes focused on his desk as he tried to build up some courage to try and say something to the girl without thinking too much. If he gave it too much thought, he feared his courage would disappear to hide under a rock. He took a few deep breaths.

_Say something, idiot. Anything. No seriously. Say anything at all! It doesn't even matter what it is, just open your mouth and say SOMETHING._

Roxas looked up at the girl's now empty seat and, in a panic, his head swiveled toward the door. He silently willed her to still be in the classroom with all his might, his brain practically begging-and then he saw her. The girl noticed him looking at her as she reached the doorway and gave him a small smile just before disappearing into the fray outside.

His heart nearly stopped. He hadn't even known he was holding his breath, but sure enough he realized he really needed to get some air or he'd probably pass out. Slamming his head down on the desk, he imagined his conscience beating him like a punching bag for letting this amazing opportunity escape his grasp. She'd smiled at him, and even laughed at him! If only he'd been able to get up come courage a FEW seconds earlier. Roxas let out a long, disappointed sigh.

Something dropped on his head. It was small, and felt no bigger than a piece of chalk. He lazily glanced up and spotted it-a small stick of light blue chalk sitting on his desk. He lifted his head a bit more, and the top of his head brushed against something. Then out of nowhere the teacher's big blue eyes appeared, staring into his own. Roxas screamed, flinching and lurching backward. His chair tilted dangerously, ungracefully toppling over and the confused victim crashing to the floor. He could hear his teacher, Aqua, laughing at him from the other side of the desk.

"What was that for?" He asked. As he attempted to stand back up with approximately the balance skill of a rubber ball, he rubbed the back of his head where it had had an unexpected meeting with the carpet.

"Has anyone ever taught you the phrase, 'it's now or never'?" She taunted him, picking the chalk up and poking him on the forehead with it. He hung his head slightly and nodded-still inwardly hyperventilating from the expert-level tumble he'd just taken.

"All the time, actually..."

Aqua chuckled. "Do you ever listen?"

Roxas blinked at her and shrugged, to which she nodded.

"You probably should," she added, "Believe me, I've been a teacher for enough years to know what I'm talking about when it comes to things like crushes-it may not be obvious to you or even to the other students around you, but to me it's like it's plastered on their face as soon as they walk in and see the person they like. It's actually kinda funny, even. For example, I could tell from a mile away that that Hayner kid's got a long-distance relationship with that Olette girl who transferred last year. I can see it on his face-the way his eyes light up when you hear his phone vibrate in the dead silence of an exam; how he smiles when he forgets to turn his ringer off and that one particular ringtone goes off-you know, the awkward one-and I have to take his phone away; when he daydreams out the window about her all period and I get to slam a textbook on his desk..."

She sighed happily, then stopped and shook her head.

"Not my point. Sorry. My point is, I can tell that you've got a huge crush on this girl. Why don't you talk to her?"

"She's not...the easiest person to talk to." Roxas said, hesitating slightly about telling his teacher something so personal. It wasn't that he didn't trust her-he'd put his own life in her hands in a second if the situation were to arise, actually-but telling her about his personal feelings just felt weird, like he was talking to a distant relative or extended family member about them. Uncle Xiggy didn't give a crap about his love life, so why would his teacher?

Could it be because she actually cared about him, unlike those other people that liked to call themselves his family? Compared to them, he didn't doubt it.

Aqua's short blue hair swayed to the side as she tilted her head to the right in confusion. "How so?"

The boy shifted his weight from his left leg to his right and slowly crossed his arms over his chest. "I just...she's so...how do I even say this without sounding like an idiot? I mean, I could say she's cute, right? But like...I feel like calling her that wouldn't be enough. I don't even know if calling her pretty would cut it. Y'know? It's just...I can't really explain it, but...I feel like she's too out of my league, or something like that. Like I can't even walk up to her, no matter how much I want to. 'Cuz, I mean, she's just so AMAZING. She's beyond pretty, and shecan keep her grades up at the top of the class and take awesome notes and stuff and still have time to just sit there and draw these incredible pictures all period for crying out loud. And I'm just kinda...me. How could someone like her notice someone who's as plain and normal and boring and...well, nobody as me?" Roxas hung his head.

At first, the teacher hesitated. She suddenly seemed far away in thought, as if the situation had somehow struck a familiar chord and sent her back in time. This almost reminded Roxas of someone in particular, but before their face could resurface he immediately pushed them far from his mind. He definitely didn't need that memory rearing its ugly head again. He waited patiently for Aqua to continue speaking. After a couple more seconds she began talking slowly, choosing her words carefully.

"Listen, Roxas...I know it's hard to talk to someone that you like a lot. To shy little snails like you and I, saying things to people in general is about as easy as going into a Struggle match for the very first time and having to battle the champion right off the bat. You know what I mean? Some people have no trouble at all talking to the person they have feelings for, or anyone really, but people that are...more prone to wanting to stay in their shells, like us, tend to make social situations more difficult than they should be. Especially when it comes to people we care about or like."

Confused, the boy tilted his head slightly. "Like us...?"

Aqua nodded. "It may not seem like it, but I'm actually quite shy myself. I have just as much trouble talking about my feelings as you do; regarding someone I like or otherwise. I try to say something, but the words always get caught in my throat and they just won't come out. Just like you, right?"

Roxas never would have thought it true. Aqua, the most energetic and fun and friendly teacher on the planet, was as closed off as him? With her personality, if he hadn't heard this from Aqua herself, he wouldn't have believed it for a second. But he had to admit; she'd definitely hit the nail on the head, and there's no way she would lie to him-not about something like this.

"But I've learned not to let the shyness keep me from going for things when I know I really want them. Yeah, I'll admit, it's a huge pain in the patooshki to let your feelings be known and have everything out in the open, but sometimes it's just what you have to do. Otherwise, the chance might slip away and before you know it, your little artist girl will be snatched away by some douchemuffin with a weird hat or something. You can't let your awkwardness sacrifice your happiness like a little healthy baby lamb to some evil shyness deity laughing in the sky at your expense, okay?" She finished, chuckling lightly at Roxas' reactions to her strange, almost slightly disturbing simile and metaphor.

Just then, a familiar knock resounded at the window near the front door of the classroom, catching the attention of the teacher and student. His face smashed up against it, Axel knocked the glass again in his code rhythm.

One knock; one, two, three knocks; three knocks again; then back to one.

Roxas sighed at his best friend's antics, a small laugh also escaping through his lips. He turned to his teacher and thanked her, telling her he promised to keep her advice in mind. Then he returned her warm smile and left the room with Axel, who handed him a small white bun sealed in a package. His least favorite kind, yay.

"Sorry, buddy," Axel apologized, "vegetable's all they had left. You're really late, y'know. And now you owe me like...fifty Munny, I think."

"Okay. Thanks anyway," Roxas sighed, pulling his wallet out and handing his friend the Munny due.

"Thanks, Roxxy. Alright, let's head on back up. Hayner and the others are starting to get impatient and it's all your fault." Axel lightly punched Roxxy's arm and led the way up to the roof, where he knew doom was awaiting his late arrival.

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Hey everyone~! Sorry it took me so long to update ;~; I've been sUPER busy with school stuff, and I just started my summer vacation two days ago. Now that I have three months to myself, I'll be able to hopefully update more! Thank you for your patience and I hope you enjoyed chapter three! Please look forward to the next one~!

~WaywardWayfinder


	4. Interrogation

Chapter 4-Interrogation

Axel and Roxas took a moment to catch their breath as they approached the very end of the staircase on the third floor. A short hallway stretched out in front of them, leading toward the door to the roof. Once they reached it, the redhead pulled on the cold, steel handle and the door swung open, a wave of summer heat washing over them and into the stairway. Roxas followed his best friend to where they and their other buddies ate lunch every day.

Hayner, Pence, Sora, and Riku already sat on the roof's ledge, eating and laughing and, he assumed, telling inappropriate jokes as was their lunchtime custom. As the pair made their way over, the small group looked up from their food to stare at them. Axel plopped himself down next to Riku, who regarded him with a trademark nod. Roxas chose to take his usual place on the wall ledge opposite everyone else- partly to avoid any contact with his comrades until they were done eating and ready to roast him with questions, and partly just because this particular side of the wall was facing the sun more than the other.

While his friends seemed to enjoy being within the shade of the big trees in the courtyard towering above the whole building, the boy personally preferred feeling the soft warmth of the sun on his face. He gently peeled the wrapper from his vegetable bun and bit into it. The cooked vegetables inside left a bitter taste on his tongue, dulled slightly by the soft doughiness of the outside bun. It wasn't his favorite, but it would do. As he munched, he readied himself for the interrogation he was inevitably about to recieve.

Hayner usually wasn't the type to grill people with questions, especially not those within his group of friends. However, when it came to Roxas the subject of Aqua's class, Hayner's personality would often take a sudden shift, his suspicion level rising steadily. Roxas had always figured that since he and Hayner shared that class, his friend could do the reconaissance himself and just ask about things later. However, he then started to notice that whenever he looked in Hayner's direction, he was either on his phone or staring off into space. No wonder Aqua enjoyed teasing him so much. And, aside from topics surrounding a certain blonde girl, he guessed that having questions bombarded at him whenever something even remotely out of the ordinary happened was better than his friend not caring about him at all.

The sounds of chewing had finally begun to cease, signaling to the boy that the time had come for him to brave the inquisitorial barrage. Clearing his throat, he stood up and walked his wrapper to the trash can, dropping it in and then slowly trekking back to his place on the wall. Five almost creepily eager faces awaited him.

"Sooooo," Hayner began, "what took you so long today?"

Hayner, with his scraggly mess of curly, beige-blonde hair, leaned on the wall beside Roxas and propped himself up on his elbow. His goofy smirk and unnecessarily raised eyebrows made it hard to take him seriously, as per usual.

"I had to stay back after class. Aqua needed to talk to me." Roxas answered, managing to successfully keep a straight face.

"Did she, now? What about?" His friend prodded.

"Nothing in particular. Paying attention in class, mostly." Well, he wasn't lying.

"You're not paying attention in class? Why?"Pence piped up, "Something wrong? I thought you liked Aqua's class?"

"Nah, I just got distracted. It's nothing."

"Distracted? Dude, you're the most focused guy I know, other than Pence. This doesn't have anything to do with anyone else, does it? Someone of the female gender, perhaps?" Sora smirked from Roxas' other side, poking his target in the arm.

"What?" Roxas said quickly, batting the hand away. "No way. If there was a girl, wouldn't you think I would have told you guys about her? Or introduced you guys? Or, I don't know, even mentioned her existence?"

Hayner's eyes narrowed at his friend and his mouth opened, probably getting ready to persist, when a soft and bored-sounding voice rose from the back of the group.

"Guys, just leave him alone. He's fine, okay? If he stayed late, he stayed late. It's not really any of our business." Riku said, in an impassive but firm tone.

Roxas hadn't known Riku for very long and didn't know him too well yet, since they had only just met at the beginning of the year when he had befriended Sora, but he had grown to like the silver-haired boy quite a bit. He was very soft-spoken and was often kind of distant, but during the short time he'd been in the group, he had quickly come to be the much appreciated straight-man who constantly kept Sora and Hayner in check. Before he had arrived, Roxas was the one who always had to stop the two from going too far, but such a feat was difficult when he often was the reason for the antics in the first place. Riku was much better suited for the job with his quiet but strong aura, and he didn't seem to mind doing it, either. Roxas appreciated that.

Finally giving up, Hayner sighed. "Fine, you're right,' A grin formed on his face, and he added, "but if there ever IS-"

"You guys will be the first to know." the blonde finished.

His friend gave a satisfied nod and turned his attention back to the rest of the group, who had gone back to sitting in their original places, talking and joking. He interrupted with a loud joke about something involving plungers, vaccuum cleaners, and jars of mayonnaise, causing Roxas' clear blue eyes to close with a sigh of relief. The interrogation was finally over. A hand patted the boy's shoulder, his tall, redheaded best friend joining him on the wall ledge.

"You'll have to tell them sometime. You can't keep this from them forever." Axel said.

"I doubt they'd even know who she is."

"Maybe not, but Hayner's in the same class as you. He may be an idiot, but he's a pretty observant idiot. You know that. He's bound to figure something out sooner or later. Addicted to his cell phone or not." He suggested, his hands digging into his pant pockets.

Roxas sighed, staring softly down at the cement beneath him. "Yeah."

"Not saying you have to spill your guts right now, buddy," Axel continued, "I'm just saying it's better to just tell them and deal with them being weird about it now, than have possible issues when one of them starts noticing her later. Sure, Hayner's got a girlfriend, but the rest of us are all single and ready to mingle, y'know? You gotta claim her before Pence does." The redhead lightly elbowed his friend in the side.

Roxas let out a chuckle. "Pence, huh?"

"Well, you never know with those Pence types, bro. Seems harmless and lovable and squishy on the outside, but on the inside he just might be a romantically adept king cobra-anaconda hybrid with pegasus wings or something." Axel laughed.

"Yeah, sure. I'll believe that when he actually kills a spider for once instead of moving about a hundred feet away from it and screaming for Hayner to kill it. I get it, though. I'll talk to everyone about it soon." The other boy said, his mouth stretching into a grin.

The pair split themselves off from the wall and joined the others, entering the conversation right after Hayner started talking about something involving his father, six batches of snickerdoodles, and women's winter clothing.

* * *

"Whaaaaaaaat? Roxxy's got other friends besides Axel?! Blasphemy!" XD

Hey, everyone! How have you all been~? I finally got to update chapter 4! XD I'm sorry it took forever. This chapter's actually been done for a while, but I never got the chance to post it. I also apologize for it being so short, but don't worry! Roxas' other friends will all come back sooner or later! X3 School's started up again, too, so I don't really know how long chapter 5 may take to write and get put up here. I'm sowwieeeeee, please be patient with me! ;.; anyway, I'm thinking about starting a new story, as well! The new one may or may not be as long as Tastes of Sea-Salt, I'm not sure right now. I'm really excited for it, so please look for it coming out sometime in the future! :D The only spoiler I'm willing to give is that it takes place in the same universe as Tastes of Sea-Salt. c: Anyway, I hope you enjoyed chapter 4! Have a great day, everyone! OH! And before I go, a shout out to **Twilight AngelDemon** for insisting that I update. I'm sorry it took so much longer than I originally thought it would, but you gave me a lot of motivation to write more, so thank you! Everyone, please look forward to the next chapter!

~WaywardWayfinder


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